ATLANTA – The State Extended Benefit (SEB) program for long-term unemployed Georgians will end on April 21. The SEB is a federally funded extended unemployment insurance program that has been available in some states, including Georgia.

Federal and state laws mandate that states in which SEB is provided have three-month average unemployment rates that remain 110 percent higher than the corresponding months three years prior. Georgia’s three-month average unemployment rate is 9.24 percent, compared to 8.5 percent for the corresponding period three years ago. In order to meet the threshold for SEB, Georgia’s three-month average rate must be 9.35 percent. The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) is notifying the 15,000 people receiving SEB that the program is ending.

SEB is not part of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program. The EUC program remains in effect. SEB has provided up to a maximum of 20 additional weeks of extended benefits to jobless Georgians who exhausted the four tiers of EUC, providing a maximum of 99 weeks of benefits to those eligible. EUC will still be available for those exhausting regular state unemployment insurance benefits.

Those recipients currently exhausting the fourth tier of EUC may be eligible for SEB through the week ending April 21.For additional information, visit www.dol.state.ga.us.